Giving Dad his props

'New Dad Story Times' puts stay-at-home fathers in limelight

Posted: Monday, August 05, 2002

By Kate Carterkcarter@onlineathens.com

In the 1983 movie ''Mr. Mom'' -- a movie some call a classic -- Michael Keaton and Teri Garr rouse great guffaws as the husband becomes a frazzled housewife and the wife becomes a high-powered executive.

The reversal of traditional gender roles, which has become more and more en vogue throughout the past few decades, can be cause both for humor and for social commentary. Nearly 20 years after ''Mr. Mom'' glorified and poked fun at fathers who take an active part in their children's upbringing, many dads are still working to transcend their roles in the working world and spend more time with their children.

Russell Yates, who recently read to a group of fathers and their children at a Barnes and Noble event called ''New Dad Story Times,'' spends hours playing building blocks and Legos with his 2-year-old daughter Alice.

Yates is a history teacher at Loganville High School -- a profession he chose carefully, with an eye to having afternoons and summers with his children. Yates said his schedule will become even more crucial because his wife, Nadege, expects a second child ''any minute now.''

Yates jokes that if Alice gets hurt, she wants her mother, but if she wants to have fun, she comes to her father.

''My dad owned his own business when I grew up,'' he said. ''He worked 60 hours a week and during the year we didn't see a lot of him.''

Yates said he still feels like societal roles dictate that men ''go out and make money and women stay at home,'' but he does encourage his friends to have children and to take an active part in their childhoods.

Barnes and Noble has storytime every Wed. and Sat. morning at 11A.M. followed by crafts all of which is free and includes juice and cookies. Cameron Swartz/Staff

''I tell them it's the first time that you have a person that's completely dependent on you, and basically you're the most important thing in their world,'' he said. ''It's amazing to have that kind of relationship -- it is unlike relationships you have with anyone else. It changes what you think about the world.''

Yuri Gorshenin, a Russian immigrant who spent time traveling with the Moscow circus, teaches his two children gymnastics. Though Elayna is only 1 and Evan is 3, they are both well on their way to becoming consummate gymnasts.

Gorshenin's wife, Amanda, teaches in the evening, so when Gorshenin returns from work he eats dinner with the children, bathes them and puts them to bed. But on the weekends, he has even more time with them.

''On Sunday, we try to speak Russian together,'' he said. ''We have some Russian cartoons and some Russian movies, and I read them a lot of stories.''

Amanda Gorshenin, who admires the front rolls her 1-year-old performs, is grateful for the involvement of her husband.

''I'm lucky in that I know three or four very involved dads, but I know that's not the majority,'' she said. ''I feel very fortunate.''